Application of yeast reducing activity for improving the flavour stability of beer.

The main goal of this project is to improve the flavour stability of beer by influencing the yeast reducing activity during fermentation and refermentation processes. Therefore, firstly, fermentation parameters will be varied in order to study their effect on the reduction of volatile aldehydes and precursors of staling reactions. In my PhD project, the importance of volatile aldehydes for aged beer flavour was shown and a partial reduction of precursor compounds was observed. Consequently, improving the reduction of these compounds can lead to better flavour stability. Secondly, the opportunities of refermentation to influence the formation of aged flavours will be studied. During storage, the yeast reducing activity remains active for a long time in the bottle and can possibly cause an important deceleration of beer ageing.

Keywords:Flavour stability, Beer, Yeast, Reducing activity, Ageing, Flavour

Disciplines:Food sciences and (bio)technology